Fact Friday 245 - Stuart Cramer & His Air Conditioning Patent

Happy Friday!

On May 7, 1907, the US Patent Office granted the first patent for “Air Conditioning” to Charlotte textile engineer Stuart Cramer. While Cramer’s patent was not the first for what we now call air conditioning (invented by a 25-year old New York inventor named Willis Cramer just 5 years earlier in 1902), it was the first patent to use the phrase “Air Conditioning,” a phrase he first coined at a conference in 1906. His 1907 patent led to the widespread adoption of the phrase around the world.

Stuart W. Cramer

In addition to his work with air conditioning, Stuart Cramer designed textile mills across the South. In Charlotte, he designed Highland Park No. 3 Mill, which led to the development of the North Charlotte mill village. Today we know it better as Charlotte’s NoDa (North Davidson) neighborhood. In Gaston County, Cramer designed two textile plants and the surrounding Mayesworth mill village on the South Fork Catawba River. In 1922, the town was renamed Cramerton.

Humidifying and Air Conditioning Apparatus, Application filed April 18, 1906

You can see Stuart Cramer’s full patent on the US Patent and Trademark Office’s website here: https://bit.ly/2WAvz6T

To read more about Historic NoDa and Highland Park No. 3 Mill, check out Fact Friday #22 and 74.

Until next week!

Chris.

Email me at chris@704shop.com if you have interesting Charlotte facts you’d like to share or just to provide feedback!

Information taken from:

UNC Charlotte Special Collections on Instagram: @unccspeccoll

“We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and the future.” – Frederick Douglass